PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Bucks County Halloween display is drawing criticism from neighbors and the NAACP.
Outside a home in Bristol Borough hang several stuffed black bags wrapped in silver tape — resembling what appear to be dead bodies — from a tree. The Bucks County NAACP says the imagery taps into the history of racist mobs and lynching.
“While we recognize that Halloween decorations are often intended to frighten or shock, intent does not erase impact,” Bucks County NAACP wrote on Facebook Thursday night.
The organization is asking the homeowner to remove it, but the homeowner says no change will be made and declined a request from borough officials to take the display down.
"I'm just looking at it, and I'm just thinking to him, like, 'Do you not see what's wrong with this?'" Bristol Borough resident Roshea Newkirk told our newsgathering partners at NBC10.
But some neighbors told NBC10 they see no problem with it.
"My house is scary. My house is always scary; it’s always set up scary. Same thing. Dead bodies lying around, skeletons. It’s Halloween."
For now, the decorations remain in place.
“This is not about restricting Halloween celebrations or freedom of expression. It is about historical awareness, empathy, and respect for our neighbors,” the organization’s Facebook post said. “We cannot change our history, but we can choose how we respond when that history is invoked in our communities today.”
They say it "carries a painful historical significance"
They say it "carries a painful historical significance"
